SoniaZambakides

Senior Leader, International Development

Currently London based leading a global Humanitarian and Stabilisation team. Prior to this I spent 11 years in East Africa and the Middle East running large scale emergency responses and building country programmes.

I have a deep passion for development and a core belief in the ability to make a difference. These are my primary drivers for the work I do and result in me being highly motivated and driven to effect change where change is needed.

My career has spanned the full spectrum of humanitarian response to long term development: however, I believe that these traditional divides are no longer relevant in todays context where 80% of the conflicts are protracted crisis. For a number of years I have been an advocate of designing strategic, and operational approaches which have fluidity between multiple strands running in parallel, such as humanitarian response, recovery and resilience in order to meet the needs in the changing development landscape.

I was a founder member of Cradle and led operations in Mostar, Bosnia and Hercegovina in 1992 to secure safe delivery of humanitarian aid to children affected by the conflict.

I established logistics and supply chain protocols for aid coming from Ireland to Mostar and subsequently managed them.

I was responsible for developing and implementing life saving programmes such as nutrition and health in partnership with local organisations.

I held responsibility for security management, including rapid security assessments to inform programmes on how to adapt and ensure safe delivery of services in a highly volatile environment.

I developed a network of local NGO's, local administrations, international NGO's and community representatives to promote collaboration of services.

I represented and advocated for the organisation in the field and gave regular briefings to the Irish Foreign Affairs Committee.

I supported local NGO's and community groups to secure funding and implement programmes in a post-conflict environment.

Detailed Description

Made Cradle a key player in humanitarian work in Bosnia and Hercegovina.

Company Description

A small international NGO that was established in 1991 to deliver humanitarian aid to the children in Mostar, Bosnia &amp; Hercegovina region. The international NGO grew over the course of the next five years and became a major player in programmes targetting the most vulnerable children in the region during and post conflict. I was a founder member of Cradle and had direct responsibility for establishment of operations and programmes in Mostar and surrounding areas.